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Doctors to track impact of cuts to refugee health care coverage

A group of doctors fighting changes to federal health care coverage for refugees will track and publicize stories of any negative impacts of the cuts.

Dr. Philip Berger, of St Michael's Hospital, talks to protesters in front of Citizenship and Immigration's Toronto headquarters on St. Clair Street to protest against planned health-care cuts to refugee claimants. (VINCE TALOTTA / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

By Joanna SmithOttawa Bureau

Wed., June 27, 2012

OTTAWA—Canadian doctors are ready to make noise about the consequences of cuts to a federal program that will restrict health coverage for refugee claimants.

“We are stubborn. We’re upset and we are professionals. The government is hurting our patients. We will not stop, ever, and we will not forget,” Dr. Philip Berger, chief of family and community medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto told a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.

The group has begun to distribute a detailed case-reporting survey, which they call the Refugee Health Outcome Monitoring Evaluation System, or Refugee HOMES, to physicians and health-care workers nationwide.

“Our network of doctors across Canada will be reporting to us the details of any harm or death resulting from the changes,” said Berger.

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The doctors plan to share these stories with the public, the media and with Conservative MPs and cabinet ministers, both at their offices and when they make any health-related announcements.

The program currently provides basic health coverage to all refugee claimants, regardless of where they come from, and supplemental benefits for prescription drugs, dental work, vision care and equipment, such as walkers and wheelchairs, until they become permanent residents, abandon or withdraw their claims, or leave the country.

As of Saturday, all refugee claimants will lose their supplemental benefits and those who are rejected after exhausting all appeals will not be eligible free health care of any kind unless their conditions pose a risk to public health or safety, such as through infectious diseases like tuberculosis and HIV.

Later, when the Conservative government comes up with its list of designated “safe” countries, refugee claimants hailing from nations on that list will be eligible for the same coverage as rejected claimants.

The changes are expected to save the federal government $100 million over five years and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has painted the issue as one of fairness to Canadian taxpayers.

“Canadians are a very generous people and Canada has a generous immigration system. However, we do not want to ask Canadians to pay for benefits for protected persons and refugee claimants that are more generous than what they are entitled to themselves,” Kenney said in a statement emailed by a spokesman on Wednesday.

Kenney also suggested generous health care attracts bogus claims.

“With this reform, we are also taking away an incentive from people who may be considering filing an unfounded refugee claim in Canada,” the statement said.

Mindful of how the cuts are playing out in public, Kenney’s office arranged a background briefing with a senior civil servant on Wednesday to explain the specifics and rationale for the changes.

The official said the program has grown in scope and cost since being established in 1957 as a way to provide refugees with medical coverage from when they arrived on Canadian shores to their final destination, often a matter of days or weeks.

The official acknowledged that some changes — including the decision to restrict basic health coverage for claimants from designated “safe” countries instead of waiting until they are rejected — were made by politicians, not the public service, but did note claimants from “safe” countries are expected to be processed within a couple of months.

The official also suggested charities might have a role to play when it comes to refugee claimants who cannot afford or are not eligible for insurance to cover prescription drugs for diseases like diabetes, which does not pose a risk to public health but requires regular medication to manage.

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